Before and after Sept. 11

ANDREW KENNETH GAYStaff Writer

Published Sunday, February 03, 2002

The house was cold when I went in to wake up the artist.

"I'm so sorry!" said Joey Tomassoni, apologizing for sleeping late and forgetting the appointment he had made the night before to be interviewed for The Record. "You'll probably start your article now with something like, 'The house was cold when I went in to wake up the artist.'"

After rushing to pull himself together, the soon-to-be Flagler College graduate sat down to talk about his vision for his generation, his spiritual faith and his artwork, including his Sept. 11 gallery, on display last week at Anastasia Baptist Church.

"I had my senior art show last fall," Tomassoni said. "And I wanted to share my faith somehow, to make people think, and before the Sept. 11 attacks, I was going to call my show 'Through the Eyes of the Prostitute.'

"That was going to be a series of paintings and sculptures based on Mary Magdalene's life and her relationship with Jesus and how she saw Christ -- a different point of view than maybe the church thinks today.

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JOEY TOMASSONI (left) is interviewed on stage before the congregation of Anastasia Baptist Church by the Rev. Bobby Crum, Contemporary Worship and Young Adult pastor at ABC, regarding his 9:11 gallery.

By ANDREW GAY, Staff

"But then the attacks hit, and I just felt like it was something in my heart that I had to deal with, as a Christian but also as an artist."

The resulting paintings and sculptures were named after various scripture passages that had a 9:11 chapter and verse reference.

More than 300 students, teachers and community visitors attended Tomassoni's exhibit last fall -- the largest attendance of any senior art show in Flagler College history.

The show was so successful that Tomassoni was asked to give three presentations of his work at Anastasia Baptist Church on Jan. 26, 27 and 30, and an extended exhibit of his work was on display in the youth center of the church through Saturday.

The centerpiece works of his presentation were three large paintings entitled "Ecclesiastes 9:11," "Amos 9:11," and "Zechariah 9:11." The first was a self-portrait, the second a depiction of God's hands restoring the World Trade Center towers, and the third a crucifixion, with the WTC towers piercing the sides of Jesus.

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ZECHARIAH 9:11 "Because the blood of my covenant is with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit."

By ANDREW GAY, Staff

"I wanted to give people a different view on these attacks," Tomassoni said. "Where was God? Why did this happen? How could there be evil like this in the world if there is a God? Those questions inspired me."

An art education major at Flagler College, Tomassoni is currently interning as a teacher at St. Augustine High School, though working with the students has caused him some alarm.

"I see a lot of complacency in the youth, honestly," he said. "They're amazing individuals, but they're just dead in the water because of what society has taught them. I would encourage the youth out there to use this time in their life to pursue their gifts, regardless of what they believe."

The artist's next project is a 100-foot mural at Pedro Menendez High School, which he'll begin within the next couple of weeks. For this painting, he intends to assemble a team of students who will share in the creative act. The project will be worked on every day after school, and Tomassoni will buy pizza for the students who get involved.

"You've heard of art for art's sake? Well, my take on that is art for others' sake. Those two views right there sum it up.

"Art for no intentional reason, to make no intentional impact, to advance intentionally in no way, or art with an intentional purpose, intentionally to help people, art to serve people, art to encourage people, art to make people think and to stretch people out. The second is my view.

"The art is going to be destroyed in time. I burn a lot of my artwork. You know, performance art. Partly, because I was a pyro when I was a kid, but the other part of it is that I understand that it's not going to last. So why hold on to it?

"Art's not what's important. What's important is people and their hearts."

Tomassoni's post-graduation plans are already in the works. Having already completed murals in Uruguay, Mexico and the U.S., Tomassoni's goal is to paint a mural in every country in the Western Hemisphere while living among and ministering to each nation's poor. He will spend the next year after graduation raising money for this mission, which he calls the Western Walls Project.

To see more of Tomassoni's artwork, visit his home page at tomassoniart.com. To purchase prints of the paintings pictured in The Record, e-mail Tomassoni at joeytomassoni@hotmail.com or call him at 824-9693.